Fox Spirit: Rebirth
by SLBR.D.C
Summary: Life is all about giving and taking. When Naruto suffers a fatal injury that leaves him in limbo. he receives a special gift but loses something he requires to be a normal shinobi: his vision, and the ability to mould Chakra. How will he continue on with his journey of life? How will he overcome death? AU, M for language and explicit violence. Tentatively no pairings.
1. Rebirth

**Fox Spirit: Rebirth**

* * *

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: **Life is all about giving and taking. When Naruto suffers a fatal injury that leaves with in limbo, the midpoint of life and death, he receives a special gift but loses something he requires to be a normal shinobi: his vision, and the ability to mould Chakra. How will he continue on with his journey of life? How will he overcome death? He shall be the one who is in-between. The one who is reborn as Kodama, the Fox Spirit. AU, M for language and explicit violence. Tentatively no pairings.

* * *

A/N: Hello fellow people. This is my first attempt of a story, so please do leave any tips and pointers for me. I will do my best to reply all of the reviews. Please enjoy the first chapter of FS: R. This story features my own explanation and logic on the applications and mechanics of Chakra and Justu. It may be confusing but I will do my best to explain clearly. Feel free to drop me any questions.

D.C

P.S. I have a tendency to use Japanese words for techniques/names. Do correct me if I make any mistakes. Thank you. Onwards with the story!

* * *

Chapter 1: Rebirth

"KILL THE DEMON!"

Naruto was flung head-first into a nearby fruit stall. The wooden stands creaked and exploded into splinters as Naruto flew through it. Trickles of blood can be seen coming out from his head and mouth. He shakily turned over on his belly and scrambled to stand. A sickening crunch rang out as a broken wooden stand smashed down the boy's back. Naruto felt all the air went out of his lungs as he crumpled back onto the dusty ground. Was this the end? He glanced up into the merciless eyes of his assaulter. The ruthless man was not alone. He was being cheered on by a massive crowd of civilians.

"Not so tough now huh, bastard. Want to know how my wife died? She was stabbed through her eyes, LIKE THIS!"

The crazed man snapped the wooden stand into two with his bare hands, and drove them into Naruto's eyes. He screamed as his world exploded into a myriad of pain, torment and utter darkness. The cheers got louder and the man kicked Naruto in the face, flopping him backwards to the ground hard. The man gave a disgusting smirk and plucked out both the wooden 'spikes' from Naruto's now-empty eye socket.

"And then, she was blasted away by your bloody paws!"

The man grabbed Naruto up by his bloodied collar and drove him head first into the ground, twice.

"BEFORE DROWNING IN THE RIVER!"

And as the crazed man was so bent on re-enacting the death of his wife, he threw Naruto into the large fish tank beside the fruit stall. The crowded started laughing at the blonde kid's certain death. Nobody who is blind, broken and drowning, not to mention just a mere five year old, can escape death right?

Right?

"Right? My child? You want all these to end right?"

Naruto blinked into the darkness. The voice was soothing. It promised an escape from all these pain and suffering. It promised to not hurt him. It promised to end him. Should he accept it? He stretched his hands out blindly, waving left and right as he tried moving his legs. Well at least he did not feel any pain now. But where exactly was Naruto? He wandered for what seemed like hours, aimlessly and blindly, before he heard the same voice again.

"Child, why do you defy my voice? Come, let us end your agony."

The voice was firmer this time, as though it was daring Naruto, daring him to leave. Naruto felt a new fear in him. He did not want to die. Not yet. Not now. Naruto let out a wordless shout of panic and leapt at the direction of the voice, with the intention to barrel through it. He wanted to live.

"I WANT TO LIVE!" Naruto shouted mid-air.

* * *

**"Hn. And live you shall, kit."**

* * *

A pale, gnarled hand with long sharp fingernails was blasted away from a shockwave of power that burst out from the half-dead boy. He was just so close away! The owner of the hand hissed in anger and floated back in a flutter of his cloak. This boy is the first human to ever escape from his clutches. From Death's clutches.

Interesting.

Death pointed his scythe at Naruto.

"Life is all about giving and taking. But I am Death and I don't do gifts. However, your tenacity to live is actually stronger than my intention to capture your soul. Very well mortal, I will grant you the Tamashi no Me, the Eyes of the Soul. Use it well to live on, for the next time you enter my realm.. you will not leave," Death ended with a promise.

A pair of light blue fireballs, similar to a pair will-o-wisps, floated down to Naruto and hovered in front of his eyes for a few seconds. They then suddenly jerked forward and implanted themselves into the empty eye sockets. Naruto screamed as he experience a whole new level of pain. His voice grew hoarser and hoarse until his scream was a raspy groan of helplessness. His bright blonde, spiky hair lost all their life and slicked down like a mop, an ashen white mop. His skin also turned fairer, though not to the point where it was deathly white. His whiskers marks also elongated and started to curl upwards, towards his new eyes. Death then ripped a part of his jet-black cloak off and bound them tightly over Naruto's eyes.

"Now, begone mortal!"

* * *

The crowd of disgusting civilians cheered as they saw the boy turned motionless after a few seconds of wild thrashing. The 'killer' was tossed in the air as though he was some sort of champion. The cheers lasted for another full five seconds before the fish tank exploded outwards, killing the few who were standing too close to it.

"The demon isn't killable! RUN!"

The crowd started to push and jostle each other as they tried to run away from the new risen child. They all ran away like the cowards they are, leaving the sprawled form of the celebrated 'killer' on the ground. He looked at Naruto in fear as he desperately tried to scrambled backwards on his hands and behinds. Naruto was emitting a thick aura of blood red Chakra and his wounds were rapidly closing up. His torn clothes fluttered off his body as he rise magnificently in a single motion. Loud hisses can now be heard as the last of Naruto's wounds closed up. The 'killer' was so scared that he pissed himself as he crawled behind an overturned cart.

**"I see you. I see your tainted soul. You cannot run.."** Naruto began as he slowly turned his head of silky white hair to face the hiding man, **"and you cannot hide!"**

A blood curdling scream was heard for a second time in the same night, though this time is sounded older, and much more in fear. A mere couple of seconds later, an enormous wave of Chakra burst out and made a giant crater in the marketplace.

* * *

Naruto woke up in the woods hours later. His head was all woozy and he could not recall a single thing. He tried to sit up and shake away the darkness, but failed miserably on the latter. Muttering a soft curse, the young blonde child stood up shakily and took a step straight.. into a tree. Naruto felt the pain welling up in his nose and spreading down to his neck and beyond. Damn! Why didn't he see that tree? Wait.. Why didn't he see?

"Damn, I'm blind."

Naruto promptly went unconscious again, this time from shock.

* * *

Footnotes: I hope I did an acceptable job. I am actually on a roll now and I do not want to break my streak of inspiration. That is just plain ridiculous as a writer. However I will not be continuing the chapter as I do not want to break the flow of the story. I guess my first present to any of my readers is two chapters straight off the bat? Is that even considered as a present? Also, just to be sure, when Naruto woke up to decimate the man, it was the Kyuubi who was in control because Naruto is passed out from the pain.

Till the next page loads,  
D.C


	2. Chakra?

**Fox Spirit: Rebirth**

* * *

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Summary: **Life is all about giving and taking. When Naruto suffers a fatal injury that leaves with in limbo, the midpoint of life and death, he receives a special gift but loses something he requires to be a normal shinobi: his vision, and the ability to mould Chakra. How will he continue on with his journey of life? How will he overcome death? He shall be the one who is in-between. The one who is reborn as Kodama, the Fox Spirit. AU, M for language and explicit violence. Tentatively no pairings.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back. I was too tired and I fell asleep at my workstation. Luckily when I woke up my idea was still fresh in my head. I hope I didn't make any glaring grammatical errors. Please do point them out to me and I will edit them. Also, I promise longer chapters. Way longer than the introductory chapter. If there are any reviews or comments, I will address them next chapter. This story features my own explanation and logic on the applications and mechanics of Chakra and Justu. It may be confusing but I will do my best to explain clearly. Feel free to drop me any questions.

D.C

P.S. I have a tendency to use Japanese words for techniques/names. Do correct me if I make any mistakes. Thank you. Onwards with the story!

_"thoughts"_

_**"kyuubi**_** thoughts"**

"speech"

**"kyuubi speech"**

* * *

Chapter 2: Chakra..?

_(Roughly six years later_)

A blur of black and white dashed across the woods. Naruto slid in the shadow of a great tree. He cursed mentally as a snake the size of a freight-train blasted towards him, mouth wide open. Naruto dodged the hungry predator easily and lightly jumped onto its head. With a grunt, he leapt down the scaly back of the behemoth. Said behemoth whipped its head around and tried to swallow Naruto, only to smash into another giant tree. Damn that brat is fast.

Naruto sprinted away until he saw the massive fence which surrounds area 44. He scaled the full ten metres of the gate in seconds and dived away just in time as the giant snake crashed into the fence, and zapped itself as the electricity coursed through it. Naruto landed neatly and flicked his perspiration off his forehead. Damn, Kurama is bitch when it bitch when it comes to doing errands for him.

_"Kura-niisama! I've got the gall from the inner-belly of the black tiger!"_

_**"Don't shout in the morning you brat! Good. Now go run laps around the perimeter of Konoha until you feel like you'll die if you take another step. Only then, consume the**_ _**gall."**_

Naruto gave a mental nod and stretched his muscles, before starting off his morning training. As Naruto ran, he thought back about the past six years of his life, after that eventful night. Who knew he had the strongest demon sealed inside him? Sure it did shock him into another state of unconsciousness, but that time, he woke up in his mind and Kurama recounted everything to him. From the point he lost his eyesights till he killed the man. However, to save Naruto's body from death, Kurama had to use up all his Chakra. It caused an overload and that damaged his Chakra lines and centres. He still has Chakra, both his and the kyuubi's, but he had lost the ability to ever mould them. He will not be able to use a single jutsu in his whole life as he will have zero Chakra control despite his massive Chakra capacity.

Naruto was instantly crushed. There goes the dream of being the Hokage. He can't even be a normal shinobi! He can't even use a simple bushin or kawarimi! His world crashed down around him until Kurama told him that there is still a way. He told Naruto that he could help him achieve the status of a shinobi, in exchange of a full control over his living environments and full sensory abilities. It was a good memory to be lost in as he did he routine run around Konoha.

* * *

_(FLASHBACK)_

"Huh?"

Kurama face-pawed, with both his paws, and sighed. It sucked talking to a clueless five year old.

**"Alright kit. Firstly, just relax your mind and tell that it's alright. You do trust that I will not hurt you right?"**

"Yeah, I do! 'Cause you saved my life right?" Naruto replied.

Kurama grunted in reply and Naruto clenched his eyes tight. It's alright. Big, orange furball is a friend, big, orange furball is a friend. Naruto chanted and chanted with full concentration until he was rapped on his head, hard.

"OW!"

Naruto opened his eyes and was instantly taken aback by the change in scenery. Whereas it was a dark, gloomy sewer with dripping pipes and ankle deep water, now Naruto's mindscape is a wide open field. The giant cage door and fox is missing too. Naruto looked down and saw a nine-tailed fox with a choker. There was a paper tag with the word 'fuiin' stuck to the choker. The now reasonably large fox smirked and stretched itself. This smaller form offers greater agility in compensation of strength.

**"Right kit. That's the way. Now I said that I can help you with being a shinobi. Believe me, it's going to be a few hundreds time harder without the ability to mould jutsu. Not to mention the fact that you're blind. I've experimented a bit with your eyes while you passed out. Looks like you don't have normal vision but you can see souls. This means that your target can NEVER hide from you. Do you get what this mean? You have one of the best ability for a shinobi, never losing sight of your target. However, this means you can see objects. You won't even know that the kunai is lodged in between your eyeballs until it's too late. You've got to train your ears, nose and even your skin to be super sensitive. Do not panic. I will be here. Why? Simply because when you die.. I too, will perish."**

Naruto took in Kurama's words wide eyed. He can still be a shinobi? He can still be the Hokage? Awesome!

"Great! Thanks you big..." Naruto could not even finished his sentence as mini-Kurama roared in anger.

**"Piece of retarded crap! You expect yourself to be a ninja, a warrior of the SHADOWS with no sense of stealth and seriousness? Wake up to reality! Death promised you that he will not let you off ever again. I sacrificed your Chakra system to save your life! THINK before you act you moron!" **Kurama raged.

Naruto was taken aback. He felt his knees go weak and he crumpled into a kneeling position. He felt stupid. He felt idiotic. He felt useless. Kurama met his eyes and grunted before swishing around, walking towards a forested area which was newly created. He motioned for Naruto to follow with a flick on his neck, seeing the boy scrambling up and following from the corner of his eye.

**"Do you know that, besides having a required amount of Chakra and the ability to control and mould the Chakra, what else is needed to finish a jutsu?"**

Naruto shook his head and looked down to the ground, dejected momentarily as he was reminded that he will never use any flashy jutsu ever in his life. Kurama glanced back at him and felt a pang of pity coursing through him. He just couldn't help feeling that way. This was his host. If Kurama wanted to survive, Naruto must survive. And Death will not be claiming two souls for the failure of one.

**"Flow, Naruto. The third is the exertion of Chakra. This is going to be difficult and technical, but it is important. By controlling and moulding your Chakra you can excite the elemental nature of Chakra. By understanding how different elements are, shinobi are able to create different elements. For example, Katon."**

Kurama's tails all lit up in a wave of blue fire, before dissipating into the thin air.

**"Fire is violent and uncaring. It is merciless and not judgemental. It views all as equal and thinks that it is unbeatable, though it isn't. Fire is very much like me. And it is also the reason why i embody the element of fire. However, when I lit my tails on fire, not only did I have to take an amount of my Chakra to change it from plain Chakra to fire Chakra, I also had to control the strength of the flames. A jutsu is made up of three components of Chakra. Remember this! Volume, Shape, Strength! You may have lost the ability to shape your Chakra.."** kyuubi paused, flaring up all his fails lightly again, **"but you have not lost your strength over it."**

With that, the blue fire surround each of Kurama's tails exploded upwards and shot to a massic height. Naruto was awestruck. More importantly, he was awestruck because he could still use his Chakra.

"Teach me how to be a shinobi Kurama-niisama!"

_(END FLASHBACK)_

* * *

A panting Naruto collapsed halfway on his eighth round around Konoha. Damn, just slightly better than yesterday, Naruto thought as he gritted his teeth. He forced himself up and continued running. He will not go down that easily! Kurama told him to only eat the gall when he felt like DYING. With a silent roar of motivation to himself, Naruto continued running. He quickly thought of something else to distract the him from all his protesting muscles. Ah, how can he forget the day he learnt his first jutsu?

* * *

_(FLASHBACK #2)_

Naruto slammed the doctor's office shut. Damn bastard, smirking like a retarded Cheshire cat because he had been given an official record of not being able to be a shinobi. This meant that Naruto will never learn any shinobi arts to defend himself. Or so the doctor thought. The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sighed as he drew a deep drag from his trusty pipe. How will he face Naruto parents after he passed on? The kid had lost his ability to be a shinobi. There's no way he can even gain respect and acknowledgement from the people of Konoha. He look down at the boy and his gaze hardened. He will at least teach the boy to defend himself. Yes, Sarutobi Hiruzen, also known as Shinobi no Kami, will personally see to it that Naruto can defend his life properly against any civilian.

Meanwhile, Naruto was lost in his thoughts, literally.

_"Wait, wait Kurama-niisama.. What'dyou mean by building up my body and mind to compensate for technique?"_

_**"Talk properly brat! Mind, Body and Technique is the golden trinity of being a shinobi. You've got to have a strong body to be able to fight and withstand damage, you've got to have a strong mind to anticipate your opponent's moves and come up with strategies in the heat of a battle, and you've got to have the technique to dish out the maximum damage with minimum consequences. Your techiniques are practically limited to taijutsu. Without the ability to shape Chakra, you can't possible create ninjutsu and** **genjutsu."**_

Naruto nodded mentally to Kurama's sagely words. This meant that he had to be stronger in body and mind so that his limited techniques will not burden him in a fight. Naruto then crashed right back to reality when he walked into Hiruzen's leg.

"Naruto, are you alright? I was talking to you but you didn't answer me. I was saying that this had gone too far. I will not allow you to be defenceless and still be on the streets. I will teach you how to defend yourself. Would you like that?" Hiruzen asked Naruto grandfatherly, smiling down at Naruto as he ruffled up his hair.

Naruto's eyes literally brightened up, but they can't be seen as Death's Robes were not only cursed to be not removable, Naruto's eyes will also never be seen by anyone other than Death himself. Anyway, Naruto was ecstatic. Nobody will pass up a chance to learn from the Hokage, the strongest shinobi in the village. He did not even need Kurama's input before agreeing to the old man. Looks like Naruto's life is going to have a good turn after all.

_-4 hours later-_

Naruto's life is still hell. Hiruzen made him do crazy physical training for a five year old! He had to run laps and lift mini weights, work out every muscles he had and he even failed to land a hit on Hiruzen-ojisama! The aged, but extremely experienced Hokage came up with a daily routine for Naruto for a year. He was to report to his office at 7 a.m. daily and leave at 5 p.m., with various exercises and trainings everyday. Naruto groaned as he scanned through the schedule. He hoped that he can survive the hellish training from Sarutobi.

**"Tch. Kit, you aren't even started yet. The old man's training is just your warm up! I will teach you nightly in your mind as you sleep. This way, as you body recovers from the old man's training, you will still be training your mind and techniques!"**

"But, Kurama-niisama.. aren't my techniques all taijutsu? How can I learn them in my mind? Even ninjutsu things like handseals are physical!"

**"You're starting to ask smart questions. Good, kit. Techniques aren't physical kit. Sure, ****practising your handseals to improve the speed and fluidity may seem to be physical, but it relies on muscle memories, which is a mental training. Now follow me, I need you to get in tune with this."**

Kurama led Naruto to a cave entrance where a chain of water droplets drip down, each droplet with the interval of half a second. Kurama entered a meditative stance and asked Naruto to copy his stance. He then asked Naruto to release a small pulse of Chakra from his ears for every time a droplet hits. Naruto started off erratically but soon his tempo stabilised and the pulses were of equal strength and intervals. Kurama nodded in approval. He needed Naruto to see things with no souls, and the only way Naruto could see is with his other sensory organs. He will have to increase the sensitivity of his other sensory organs later. The ear is the most useful.

**"Alright kit. Now I'll shoot these leaves at you. Do not laugh. They are all coated with a slight sheen of wind Chakra and will slice through even your bones. Dodge, or be in pain. You won't be able to see them, so rely on you Onpa no Jutsu to hear them. You need to dodge nine thousand leaves to pass this test. Every cut means increasing fifty more leaves. And no, i will not lose count."**

And that was Naruto's first and one of his most important jutsu for survive, Onpa no Jutsu. He took 16450 leaves, or six nights, to master it.

_(END FLASHBACK #2)_

* * *

Naruto crashed down to the ground face first, unmoving. Kurama prodded Naruto mentally. Damn, the kid's lost it. Naruto had been sprinting around Konoha for hours. He may have even broken the record of the crazy men in green spandex suits. Broken the record for their warm-up at least.

Since the day Naruto learnt and mastered Onpa no Jutsu, he had been using it to increase the natural sensitivity of his ears as well as releasing it at a constant tempo of 0.2 second intervals. The Chakra hits object in it's path and bounces back to Naruto. It isn't very stealthy but when in a battle, Naruto will be able to see as clear as the day, no matter the time.

He also learnt to push out a constant layer of Chakra straight from his skin. It provides not only basic protection from shurikens and taijutsu, it also let Naruto feel any change of the air pattern, tremors along the ground, even a change of wind direction. It may sound useless but a high level opponent can easily exploit Naruto's blindness every 0.2 seconds. Soto-kokkaku no Jutsu is Naruto's secondary sensory jutsu.

These two jutsu utilises the flow and movement of Chakra as a basis. Nobody uses them now as they require an insane amount of Chakra capacity. Naruto, coupled with the kyuubi Chakra, basically had a conbined Chakra pool of any typical Jonin. By constantly using both the jutsu, he is effectively building up his own Chakra capacity while learning to be more adept with Kurama's, which is still merging slowly with his.

"Niisa..sama.. Gall.."

Kurama face-pawed and took control of the boy. He retrieved the gall from the pocket of his training pants and prepared for the incoming foul taste.

**"Gurgh.. Taste like a gall from the inner-stomach of a black tiger.."**

Kurama scrambled up to a sitting position and started to examine all Naruto's muscles. They were getting formed up and refined nicely. Maybe it's time to get the boy started on taijutsu. He had seen the smaller freakish green man. Rock Lee, or something, was his name. That boy was a true achiever. Even though he had the ability to, he just could not shape, or exert Chakra from his own will. He had a reasonably large pool of Chakra, but it is useless. Unless there was a way for him to suddenly gain the ability to exert Chakra. Strength was slowly returning to Naruto's body as the medicinal effect of the gall started to take effect. Kurama gave a feral grin before slipping back to the mindscape, leaving Naruto to wake up to..

"OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS HORRIBLE TASTE IN MY MOUTH?"

* * *

Footnotes: Next chapter will have some taijutsu goodness, as well as more Hiruzen. These few chapters may be a chore but it's important to lay a strong foundation before building any kind of house!

_(edit)_

OH SHOOT. I forgot the translation.

-niisama: formal way of addressing elder brother

Onpa no Jutsu: Technique of Sonic Wave

Soto-Kokkaku no Jutsu: Technique of Exoskeleton

Till the next page loads,  
D.C


End file.
